1This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests 2and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you, 3and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen! I am going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. 4For they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned incense in it to gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. 5They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind. 6So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.
7“ ‘In this place I will ruin19:7 The Hebrew for ruin sounds like the Hebrew for jar (see verses 1 and 10). the plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, at the hands of those who want to kill them, and I will give their carcasses as food to the birds and the wild animals. 8I will devastate this city and make it an object of horror and scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff because of all its wounds. 9I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh because their enemies will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them.’
10“Then break the jar while those who go with you are watching, 11and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. 12This is what I will do to this place and to those who live here, declares the Lord. I will make this city like Topheth. 13The houses in Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah will be defiled like this place, Topheth—all the houses where they burned incense on the roofs to all the starry hosts and poured out drink offerings to other gods.’ ”
14Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court of the Lord’s temple and said to all the people, 15“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on this city and all the villages around it every disaster I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked and would not listen to my words.’ ”
Gudulia La Udongo Lililovunjika
119:1 Hes 11:17; Yer 18:2Hili ndilo asemalo Bwana: “Nenda ukanunue gudulia la udongo kutoka kwa mfinyanzi. Wachukue baadhi ya wazee wa watu na wa makuhani 219:2 Yos 15:8; 2Fal 23:10na mtoke mwende mpaka kwenye Bonde la Ben-Hinomu, karibu na ingilio la Lango la Vigae. Huko tangaza maneno ninayokuambia, 319:3 Yer 17:20; 6:19; 1Sam 3:11nawe useme, ‘Sikieni neno la Bwana, enyi wafalme wa Yuda na watu wa Yerusalemu. Hili ndilo Bwana Mwenye Nguvu Zote, Mungu wa Israeli, asemalo: Sikilizeni! Nitaleta maafa mahali hapa, ambayo yatafanya masikio ya kila mmoja atakayesikia habari zake yawashe. 419:4 Kum 28:20; 31:16; Law 18:21; 2Fal 21:16; Isa 65:11; Kut 20:3; Yer 1:16Kwa kuwa wameniacha na kupafanya mahali hapa kuwa pa miungu ya kigeni. Wameiteketezea sadaka miungu ambayo wao wala baba zao wala wafalme wa Yuda kamwe hawakuijua, nao wamelijaza eneo hili kwa damu isiyo na hatia. 519:5 2Fal 3:27; Za 106:37-38; Yer 32:35; Eze 16:36; Yer 7:31Wamejenga mahali pa juu pa kuabudia miungu pa Baali ili kuteketeza wana wao katika moto kama sadaka kwa Baali, kitu ambacho sikukiamuru wala kukitaja, wala hakikuingia akilini mwangu. 619:6 Yos 15:8; Yer 7:32; 2Fal 23:10Hivyo jihadharini, siku zinakuja, asema Bwana, wakati watu hawatapaita tena mahali hapa Tofethi ama Bonde la Ben-Hinomu, bali Bonde la Machinjo.
719:7 Law 26:17; Kum 28:25-26; Yer 16:4; Za 79:2; 33:10-11; Yer 34:20“ ‘Nitaiharibu mipango ya Yuda na Yerusalemu mahali hapa. Nitawafanya waanguke kwa upanga mbele ya adui zao, katika mikono ya wale watafutao uhai wao, nami nitaitoa mizoga yao kuwa chakula cha ndege wa angani na wanyama wa nchi. 819:8 Kum 28:37; Yer 25:9; Mao 2:15-16; Sef 2:15; Yer 18:16; Law 26:32Nitauharibu mji huu na kuufanya kitu cha kudharauliwa. Wote wapitao karibu watashangaa na kuudhihaki kwa sababu ya majeraha yake yote. 919:9 Law 26:29; Mao 4:10; Isa 9:20; Kum 28:49-57; Yer 21:7Nitawafanya wao kula nyama ya wana wao na binti zao; kila mmoja atakula nyama ya mwenzake wakati wa dhiki ya kuzungukwa na jeshi lililowekwa juu yao na adui wanaotafuta uhai wao.’
1019:10 Yer 13:14; 51:63; Za 2:9“Kisha livunje lile gudulia wale walio pamoja nawe wakiwa wanaangalia, 1119:11 Yer 7:32; Za 2:9; Isa 30:14uwaambie, ‘Hili ndilo Bwana Mwenye Nguvu Zote asemalo: Nitalivunja taifa hili na mji huu kama gudulia hili la mfinyanzi lilivyovunjwa, nalo haliwezi kutengenezeka tena. Watawazika waliokufa huko Tofethi hata isiwepo nafasi zaidi. 12Hivi ndivyo nitakavyopafanya mahali hapa na kwa wale waishio ndani yake, asema Bwana. Nitaufanya mji huu kama Tofethi. 1319:13 Yer 52:13; Eze 16:41; Ay 38:32; Mdo 7:42; Eze 20:28; Yer 7:18; 32:29; Eze 20:28Nyumba zilizoko Yerusalemu na zile za wafalme wa Yuda zitatiwa unajisi kama mahali hapa, Tofethi: yaani nyumba zote ambazo walifukiza uvumba juu ya mapaa yake kwa jeshi lote la angani, na kumimina dhabihu za vinywaji kwa miungu mingine.’ ”
1419:14 2Nya 20:5; Yer 7:2; 26:2Kisha Yeremia akarudi kutoka Tofethi, mahali ambapo Bwana alikuwa amemtuma kutoa unabii, akasimama katika ua wa Hekalu la Bwana na kuwaambia watu wote, 1519:15 Zek 7:11-14; Mdo 7:51-52; Neh 9:16; Yer 11:11; 22:21“Hili ndilo Bwana Mwenye Nguvu Zote, Mungu wa Israeli, asemalo: ‘Sikilizeni! Nitaleta juu ya mji huu pamoja na vijiji vinavyouzunguka kila maafa niliyosema dhidi yake, kwa sababu wamekuwa na shingo ngumu, na hawakuyasikiliza maneno yangu.’ ”
